How does the university experience in Russia differ to the rest of the world?

I will speak as a student and as a professor. I recently spent 5 months lecturing both Masters students and First year Bachelor students, at a leading Moscow university. Now I noted that the students entering University here in Russia are still kids 16 and 17 year olds. They have very little work ethic (not all but most) and most (not all) are rich so they have very little motivation. They are molly coddled by the University administrators and spoon fed. I got the impression that it is more important for the University to have a good pass rate and thus improve their ratings, than actually giving a rigid degree course. The Russian students I taught are a far cry from any students in English speaking countries. They are not taught to self study or do research, all info is expected to be supplied to them and then they are tested according to this, they are not asked questions where they have to apply their minds. This is only my experience on the courses I taught and may not be like this everywhere at other faculties or universities.

That is true. That's why I don't like Russian universities. I got a bachelor's degree in one of them and that was really just like "to do". Most of students are not interested in the educational process. But that is because of stupid system of school exams. People at last grades at school are being educated to be like robots "choose the correct answer". This way of school education leads to unmotivated education in the future.

But at least in big and popular universities you can take a part in a lot of events like different compititions, business cases etc.

And of course you can meet russian people (drunk too) and russian culture. They are unusual and interesting to meet.

The university experience in Russia differs significantly from that experienced in the US and UK. I have studied in all three places. The biggest difference in Russia is that the majority of professors do not care at all whether the students learn the information at all. Some of them don't even care if they see students cheat during exams. The biggest difference though was the level of plagiarism I witnessed. In the US and UK, this is not tolerated whatsoever. Students in my master's program prepared presentations and essays with information copied from the internet. Exams never tested the ability to think, just whether students could regurgitate enormous amounts of relatively useless information and facts. My experience comes from one of the top 4 law schools in Moscow.

Russian universities have a primary focus on making the student think. Having tough loads of course material, homework, research, University life is challenging, but in a good way. The students are forced to get out of their comfort zones, and the amount of discipline that students are required to show during lectures integrate in a quality learning experience. Russian Universities, however, do not accommodate many student activities, such as sport teams, mascots, student clubs, etc. Students are treated as independent individuals and not kids, like in most universities in the USA. The primary difference, in the end, is the educational program it self. Russian Universities are much stronger in that aspect. And one of the most clear examples can be seen in the fact that while I was a Freshman in an American Univ., I was learning material that I have covered in my 10th year in a Russian Public school.

I spent 10 months studying Political Science at Saint Petersburg Statue University in Russian with Russian students. There were many differences that I had not expected, the biggest of which was probably student support, or rather lack of. It makes a significant difference if you are a foreign student, because you'll more likely expect less guidance that what you are used to. Classes were often big, and there was almost no explanation for what I consider little things, for example when our exams are going to be, how exams are even conducted. Everyone assumes you already know everything. There were many administrative problems that seemed stupid: I was not allowed to use the library until I presented them with a certificate for the period of time I am studying there (that was just one example of many). Also, student clubs and societies were not very accessible to foreign students.

A year ago, I spent a semester(4 months) at the Pushkin State Russian Language institute in Moscow. It's mainly an institute for foreign students so apart from the teachers, there weren't many Russians there. Honestly, it was quite a surprise for me the fact that the difficulty level of the classes was far inferior to the one in my country(Romania). The classes weren t adapted to the language level of every student. But since students also lived there, there was a strong connection among us, you could very easily make friends there so that was quite great. Also, the institute was much more organised than a lot of Romanian colleges(in Ro, we would have had to go a lot of places to have our visas extended, but it wasn t the case here).

I cannot speak for the Russian university experience as I have not had the honour to lecture in Russia, however, Having lectured Russian exchange students I have a very high opinion. I lectured engineering for 9 years in Western Australia and found Russian students to be very disciplined, highly educated and as motivated as we can expect any young person to be. I commend the Russian education system, Russian students while at first perplexed by my lecturing style could grasp and complete a task when I set projects "without boundaries". This would mean I would ask for a paper on an inspiring engineering project, conceptual or built, and ask them to educate me. Chinese and African students could not find a case study without repeated assistance and usually plagiarism. US students had amongst the lowest standard of education and proved somewhat arrogant, as did many other Europeans. In lecturing so many nationalities including pilot programs of Bhutanese and Papuans who lived mostly without technology to some Arab state nationals who had never interacted with a female lecturer, I can only commend the Russian education system. Dedicated, Committed and Goal driven students from Russia were a pleasure. Of course they are young and will sometimes go and party the night before an exam - but in 99% of cases, My Australian students took them out!. The willingness to explore and take part in another culture while still being Russian leaves me with fond memories and pride in being a part of their stories.